Sunday, December 2, 2012

Price Difference

I was looking at the website for the
Indian luxury train, The Golden Chariot.I was surprised that there are different prices for Indian citizens and
foreigners.Here are the rates for a 7
night travel:

Double occupancy per person - Indian
National – Rs.1,15,500/-

Double occupancy per person –
Foreigners - $3,835 (Rs.2,07,022/-)

Even entrance fees to Taj Mahal is
Rs.20/- for Indian citizens and Rs.250 for foreigners.

I have seen some brand name star hotels
in India
have different (higher) rates for foreigners.

Foreigners mean all foreigners whether
they are from USA or from Liberia (the
second poorest country in the world). Number one is Congo.

I am not complaining about India
only.This is prevalent in a few other
countries.I have first hand experience
in Turkey and Egypt. Recently, a person complained that in Cairo, they charged a
foreigner to pray in the mosque.

Foreigners are considered rich. If they
can travel all the way from their country they must be rich.But not all foreigners are rich. There are lots of countries that are more
poorer than India.

I think (I may be wrong) a lot of
tourists to India
are NRIs and Indian origin people.Many
of them can sneak in as Indian citizens because they can speak their mother
tongue fluently.I can speak a better
Madras Bashai than any auto rickshaw driver in Chennai.

It is only the white people and people
with African hairdo are the unlucky ones.

May be all countries should follow this
practice.For example, Disneyland
charges $87 per person for one day admission.They should charge $156 for foreigners.I have used the same ratio as the Golden Chariot rate.Not the outrageous ratio for Taj Mahal entrance
fee.This ratio would cost a foreigner
$1,088 to enter Disneyland.That is bad.

Bob Iger, Chairman and Chief Executive
Officer of The Walt Disney Company, is looking for ways to increase his
company’s revenue.Next time I have
lunch with Bob I will mention this to him. HaHaHa.

Actually you have a point there..but you know what SG things are not that good for Indian nationals also at some places. One of my friend had been to Wagah border where despite paying the entrace fees (in Indian rupees I know :)) the sitting arrangement was worse than that for foreigners as they had nice cosy chairs laid out in front for better view and all... I actually wonder what do these people want to prove by showing this discrimination.Is it wrong to visit another country than yours??

Everywhere business and profit. Why can't people consider the humans as a single lot.It is correct one way or other we are victims partiality and segregation.We all come to the earth empty- handed and go from here in yhe same pattern.

Thanks for your comments Ekta. Looks like you were in a hurry and just glanced through my post. Please read it again. Why do you assume “foreigner” means Americans? Indians charge the same “foreigner” fees to people from Liberia (second poorest nation on earth) and Congo (the poorest nation on earth) also. This must be stopped.

Since the government babus are doing nothing in Delhi, they can come out with a country by country admission fees/tariff list.

Thanks for your comments V. I have a feeling these sign boards are not enforced. In Tirupathi, there is a sign that says "Non Hindus are not allowed". Is there someone checking? Also, non-Hindu VVIPs are given royal treatment.

This happens at a lot of tourist places that I visit. I asked about it once and the admin there told me that 5 rupees in India is like $5 in USD. It's the same!! :)

I think they can have separate (lower) entry charges for people from other parts of Asia/Africa (at least), at tourist places. But the best thing to do is not to discriminate and hence welcome more tourists.

Thanks for your comments Rajesh. What you say makes lot of sense. Americans and other "richer" nationals do not mind paying a higher amount. At the same time, there should be lower fees or same fee for people from poorer countries.

SG - I dont know whether its enforced or not, hardly the point! I just found it much worse than charging a different price. In Fort Kochi, theres this restaurant that will not serve you if you are Indian, guess it works both ways!

Cool Renu. Next time you visit Disneyland I will ask them to charge you $156 per day. By visiting USA I know you have money. In a free world it should be acceptable. To hell with people from Liberia and Congo. Who cares for these poor people.

@ SG when I visited the Mahabalipuram temple with an australian friend they charged her the Indian rate and charged me the foreign rate- reason? It seems she looked like a Punjabi while it I looked like a Sri Lankan to the counter clerk- So what do you think I did ? I told him that both of us were Indian. Thankfully he only demanded my ID :))

Thanks for your comments Meera. That is ridiculous. People do things like that everywhere. Once I came from USA, landed in Delhi, and after a few days came to Chennai. When I tried to register in a star hotel, the clerk asked me where I come from. I said I am coming from Delhi. (That was correct technically.) He then asked me to show my passport. I asked him do they require passport to travel from Delhi to Chennai. He backed off. If he had asked for my ID, I would have shown him my driver’s license or even my passport.

It is all due to stereoptyping -- white skin means foreigner (even if he or she is an Indian citizen), and they are all rich. So fleece them. As you say, NRIs get away since they blend with the locals. But some budget tourists like the students from Israel are hard bargainers and they generally avoid these tourist hotspots and zero in on places where they can drive a good bargain and enjoy the sights. You should see how the locals complain about them :)